The Slytherin's Read
by angelgirl3686
Summary: After 4th year, the Slytherins have a choice to make. To help them, Hogwarts sends them the Harry Potter books.
1. Prologue

The Slytherin's Read

Author: angelgirl3686

Disclaimer: All characters and HP related themes belong to J.K. Rowling. I'm just borrowing them.

Summary: After 4th year, the Slytherins have a choice to make. To help them, Hogwarts sends them the Harry Potter books.

Prologue

School was ending in two weeks and the Slytherins had choices they needed to make.

The majority of the Slytherins were sitting around the Common Room worrying about whether they were joining the Dark Lord or not.

They looked up when the Common Room door opened but most continued what they were doing when they say Severus Snape, Lucius, and Narcissa Malfoy.

The three adults joined Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Marcus Flint, Hugh Montague, and Adrian Pucey.

Once Snape had put up a silencing ward, Draco turned to his parents.

"Mum, Dad, what are we going to do?"

Lucius rested both of his hands on top of his cane.

"I have spoken with each of your parents. The Dark Lord seems extremely unstable at the moment so we are going to do our best to put off your markings for as long as possible."

The students nodded their acceptance.

"I just wish we knew why he _has _become so unstable." Narcissa shared a look with her husband.

As soon as Narcissa had finished speaking, there was a bright flash of light and a stack of books appeared on the table in front of them with a note.

Snape picked up the piece of parchment and read it out loud.

_If you truly want to have the answers to your questions, these books will help. The first four have already happened. The next three will be what happens._

_Take these books to the seventh floor. There will be a special room waiting for you called the Room of Requirements._

_Hogwarts_

"Did the school honestly send us books about Potter?"

Everyone looked over at Draco who was holding the first book.

"It appears so." Narcissa stood up and grabbed one of the books.

The other Slytherins followed her example and, by unspoken agreement, headed for the Room of Requirement.


	2. Chapter 1

_The Slytherins Read_

_CHAPTER ONE_

_As everyone settled into the room, Severus took the first book and read the back._

_Once everyone was settled, he opened the book to the first chapter._

"_**Chapter one. The Boy Who Lived. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**_

"_**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**_

"_**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it."**_

"_Wait. Who are these people? They sound horrible." Pansy wrinkled her nose in disgust._

_Severus nodded in agreement. Petunia had always been a horrible little girl. It sounds like she hadn't changed._

"_They are Potter's aunt, uncle, and cousin."_

"_**They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**_

"_**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair."**_

"_How completely horrid." Narcissa leaned into her husband's side. "Why would Dumbledore leave his golden boy there? They are terrible."_

"_I have believed for a long time that Dumbledore left Potter with them to make sure he would follow Dumbledore. He wanted to be Potter's savior so that Potter would always go to him."_

"_**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. **_

"_**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. " Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**_

"_What a spoiled little brat. You would have been grounded for the rest of your life if you behaved like that, Draco."_

_His fellow Slytherins all noticed Draco's face turn red and snickered to themselves. Maybe this book would offer entertainment that they hadn't considered._

_**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking**_** at the sign; cats couldn't read maps **_**or **_**signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

"**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. **

"People are being awfully careless, aren't they? Wouldn't that be a better time than ever to be careful of making sure Muggles didn't find out anything?" Pansy looked at her professor.

"It would have been. And as it was, there were quite a few Muggles who had to be obliviated because of such things."

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes -- the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt -- these people were obviously collecting for something…yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning.**

**He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though the people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at night time. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled a five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunch-time, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker's opposite.**

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This lot were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard -" "- yes, their son, Harry - "**

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

"I don't understand. Why are they so afraid of Harry's parents? It's not like they have anything to do with them?"

Severus looked at his godson before answering this question. "Petunia doesn't hate them. She's jealous of them. When Lily was first accepted to Hogwarts, Petunia tried to talk Dumbledore into letting her attend as well. After she was turned down, she became quite bitter and proclaimed to _hate _her sister."

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking...**

**No, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. **

**He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that... but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon, and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.**

**It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice-**

**that made passers-by stare: "Don't be sorry my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like your self should be celebrating this happy, happy day!"**

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off. Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was.**

The Slytherin students snickered. It was too easy to freak out the fat whale of a Muggle.

**He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

**As he pulled into the driveway at number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

"Why was McGonagall there?"

"She was trying to convince the Headmaster that he was making a mistake. She despises Lily's sister. I think she always has." Severus could remember several spectacular rants since Potter had started school.

**Was this normal cat behavior, Mr. Dursley wondered? Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word (Shan't).**

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living-room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The news reader allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain that I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars!**

**Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early**

- **It's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...Mrs. Dursley came into the living-room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister. "No," she said sharply. "Why?" "Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..." "So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley. "Well, I just thought... maybe ... it was something to do with ... you know ... her lot."**

All of the Slytherin students cried out in protest. The elder Malfoys looked more than a little upset. The Dursleys would be lucky to live out the summer. With the way that this book was going, someone in the room would likely hex them out of sheer frustration.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name 'Potter'.**

**He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now wouldn't he?" "I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly. "What's his name again? Howard isn't it?" "Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

**Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it was waiting for something. Was he imagining things?**

**Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did ... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it. **

Marcus rolled his eyes. "How exactly would something like that get out? No one would believe them."

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind ... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on. He yawned and turned over. It couldn't affect them ... How very wrong he was.**

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next street, nor when the two owls swooped overhead**.

**In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground.**

**The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had been seen in Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt.**

**He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He had found what he was looking for in his inside pocket.**

**It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

**He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left in the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him.**

"I've never heard of anything like that before." Adrian shared a look with Hugh. The two of them were constantly trying to find new spells, potions, or items that the other had never heard of. Hugh shook his head, saying he hadn't heard of anything like that either.

Marcus, Draco, and Blaise all rolled their eyes at the exchange. They would be very surprised if the two hadn't gotten together before Christmas.

**If anyone looked out of their window now, even the beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street towards number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat.**

**He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it. "Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff too if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls ... shooting stars ... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes swapping rumors."**

Lucius exchanged a look with his wife. This was the one and only time that he agreed with the Deputy Headmistress. The witches and wizards were behaving horribly.

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on: "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a sherbet lemon?"**

**"A what?"**

"**A sherbet lemon. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for sherbet lemons.**

**"As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like your self can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort".**

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was un-sticking two sherbet lemons, seemed not to notice.**

**"It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's**

**name."**

**"I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half-exasperated, half-admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the one You-Know - oh, all right, Voldemort -**

**was frightened of"**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

This time everyone in the room exclaimed in protest. No one wanted to know that kind of information about the elderly Headmaster.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?" It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now.**

**It was plain that whatever 'everyone' was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another sherbet lemon and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter** **are - are - that they're - dead.**

"I wasn't aware that she was close to either one of them." Narcissa gave Severus a questioning glance.

"James Potter was her favorite student. She always favored him over the other students."

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James ... I can't believe it ... I didn't want to believe it ... Oh, Albus ..."**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know ... I know ..." he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry.**

**"But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly. "It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done ... all the people he's killed ... he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding ...of all the things to stop him ... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"we can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

Lucius narrowed his eyes in thought. It was nearly impossible to believe that the headmaster had no suspicions…no ideas about what had happened to Harry Potter. He looked over at Severus and could tell that his best friend was thinking the same thing.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took out a watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle.**

**They're the only family he has left now."**

"Professor, what was the headmaster doing placing a child anywhere? Isn't that the responsibility of the Ministry?" Blaise didn't know what to think of everything he was learning.

Severus sat back and considered things for a moment. "I'm not sure what he was up to. But I do know that the Potter's will was never read. He has it blocked until Potter goes to Gringott's and asks about it."

**You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't."**

**I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"That's in poor taste. No matter that they didn't get along, you shouldn't deliver the news that a sibling is dead through a letter." Narcissa sniffed in distaste.

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him!**

**He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in future - there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"**

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course.**

**But how is the boy getting here Dumbledore?"**

**She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it. "Hagrid's bringing him."**

**You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

**"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorbike fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

**If the motorbike was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorbike?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorbike as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it me."**

**I've got him, sir."**

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we were flyin' over Bristol."**

"Does that mean that they left Potter in that house a whole day before Hagrid went to get him? That's a long time to leave a toddler alone." Pansy glanced at Narcissa, distressed. Children were well thought of to wizards and disregarding one so young was completely unheard of.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

**"Is that where - ?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar for ever."**

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in useful. I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I - could I say goodbye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid.**

**He bent his great shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss.**

**Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall. "You'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets and then came back to the other two. **

"Impossible. No one in their right mind would leave an infant on someone's doorstep in October! He could have gotten very ill!"

Lucius and Draco both scooted away from the Malfoy matriarch. It was looking more and more like she was siding with the Potter heir. Dumbledore wouldn't know what had hit him.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**.

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice. "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself on to the motorbike and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply**.

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street.**

**He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four. "Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley ...He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**

"I cannot believe he was just left like that! Anyone could have picked him up! I know for sure that several Death Eaters were searching for him during those first few days. How could a man who claims to be concerned for the boys safety just leave him like that?"

Narcissa was just getting started on her rant when Severus handed over the book, already turned to the next chapter. She glared at the man for a minute before sighing and settling back to read the chapter.


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Narcissa began reading when she felt she was calm enough to start.

" **CHAPTER TWO : THE VANISHING GLASS . Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets — but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father,**

"What is a computer game?" Draco and the rest of the Slytherin students looked over at their Head of House.

"A computer game is a muggle form of entertainment. It's too complicated to go into right now."

The students accepted his explanation (with the intentions of bugging him about it later) and turned back to Narcissa.

"…**being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"Where's Potter? I know Dumbledore wouldn't have moved him." Lucius gave Severus a questioning look but the dark haired man simply shook his head, unsure of the answer himself.

"**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day. "Up! Get up! Now!" Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again. "Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"**His aunt was back outside the door. "Are you up yet?" she demanded. "Nearly," said Harry. "Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." Harry groaned. "What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door. "Nothing, nothing…" Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

"WHAT!" To everyone's surprise, including his own, it was Severus Snape who had hollered at that revelation. He got up and began pacing the room, trying to calm himself down while the students talked about the newest development.

When she felt everyone was calm enough to pay attention, Narcissa began reading again, barely hiding her own fury at the situation.

"**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast. Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. **

"I always wondered why the Potter heir was dressed like a Weasley. I know for a fact that the Potter family was among the top five wealthiest families in Britain." Narcissa felt better knowing that Harry didn't simply have bad taste in clothes.

"**Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it. "In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

"Car crash!? How could a car crash kill Lily? She was one of the most powerful witches of our age!" Severus sat back and began plotting ways to make Petunia regret ever spreading such lies about Lily.

"**Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. "Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting. About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place**.

"I always thought he was doing that on purpose." Marcus shared a look with Adrian.

To their surprise, the older Slytherins all laughed. "James Potter's hair was the exact same way. Of course, he went out of his way to make it look worse than it normally did."

"**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig**.

"**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell. "Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year." "Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy." "All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

"If you had ever behaved that way, Draco, you would never have gotten on a broom." Lucius gave his son a serious look, making sure that his heir knew that that was not ever appropriate behavior.

"**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right" Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty…thirty…" "Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia. "Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then." Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

Narcissa sniffed in disgust. "Well, don't encourage his behavior. Barbarians! The lot of them."

"**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried. "Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction. Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. "Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested. "Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy." The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. "What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?" "On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia. "You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

"That's a very Slytherin attitude to have." Severus almost sounded proud of the brat.

"**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. "And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled. "I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening. "I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "…and leave him in the car…" "That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…" Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted. "Dinky Duddydums, **(here all of the students roaredwith laughter)** don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him. "I…don't…want…him…t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms. Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

"I can't believe her! She's raised a son who is nothing more than a schoolyard bully. It's like she can't wait to see him off to jail!" As a mother, Narcissa was furious with Petunia and hoped that she got a few minutes alone with her soon.

"**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside. "I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas." "I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…" But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did. The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

Blaise grinned at Draco. "I wonder what kind of accidental magic the Boy-Who-Lived had when he was younger."

Draco grinned back, hoping to get something he could use to taunt his rival with.

"**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. **

"I don't blame you, Potter. How horrible." Pansy nodded approvingly at Potter's magic.

"**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly. Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls). The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished. On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**

Narcissa stopped reading in surprise. This was impossible. She'd never heard of someone so young apparating before. She looked up at her husband and Severus and saw that they seemed stunned as well. When she had regained her composure, she began reading again; still slightly stunned.

"**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room. While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles. "…roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them. "I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

Everyone groaned at this. They all knew that Potter should have kept his mouth shut about that, no matter how true it was.

"**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" Dudley and Piers sniggered. "I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond. Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. **

"If he has that much common sense, why can't he seem to stay out of trouble in school?" Draco looked over at his godfather, who seemed to be deep in thought.

"**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. "Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last. After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils. "Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge. "Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. "This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

"**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house. The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's. It winked. Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time." "I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying." The snake nodded vigorously. "Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked. The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. Boa Constrictor, Brazil. "Was it nice there?" The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?" **

Pansy looked away from Narcissa and the book for a moment. "How did he not find that weird? I'd find that weird and I grew up around magic."

Draco simply looked stunned that so many cool bits of accidental magic ( and parseltongue) had happened around his rival before school had even started.

"**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could. "Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror. Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

"**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come…Thanksss, amigo." The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

"Now that is an amazing piece of magic." Lucius felt oddly proud of the young wizard. That was an amazing feat of magic to perform for one so young.

"**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

"**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy. Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

"It's no wonder I could hardly ever catch the brat out after hours! He's had practice!"

Draco, Blaise, Marcus, Adrian, and Hugh snickered at their professor.

"**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

"How can Potter remember that? He couldn't have been much older than a year or so when that happened!"

Severus shook his head, slightly stunned, and answered, " some things are so terrible that the mind remembers, even when we try to forget."

"**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house. When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

"I can't believe so many witches and wizards saw him and no one reported it in any papers. They would have been paid top dollar for those stories."

Lucius looked over at his son. "I believe Dumbledore probably had something to do with that. Some of these people were probably paid to keep silent."

"**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"**How terrible. And it doesn't help that his sidekicks don't let anyone near the Golden Boy so he has very few friends here." **

**Pansy exchanged a look with Narcissa that had all of the men groaning. They knew, without a doubt, that Potter was going to be Narcissa and Pansy's next project. And the men would have to go along or deal with the wraith of two very powerful Slytherin women.**


	4. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Lucius took the book from his wife and decided to begin reading before she could start off on everything that she had found wrong in the previous chapter.

"**The Letters From No One. The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches."**

"Unbelievable! Do they have no concept of manners or appropriate public behavior?"

Everyone began to subtly move away from the Malfoy matriarch. They would hate to be Petunia Dursley if Narcissa ever got within a hundred yards of her.

"**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

"**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

"**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

"**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said."**

"I can't believe this is Potter! He seems so different than how he behaves around the school." Draco looked over at his friends, hoping to get their opinions.

They just shook their heads. They didn't understand how Potter could be so different either. The Potter in the book could have easily fit in in Slytherin.

"**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years."**

"Ewww!" Pansy turned an odd shade of green. "That is revolting!"

Lucius decided to tune out the rant that the young Slytherin had begun and continue reading.

"**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life."**

Lucius glanced over at his best friend. "Is this considered _normal _in the Muggle world?"

"No. I've never heard of any school encouraging that kind of behavior. At least it explains what is wrong with Potter's uncle if he went to the same school."

"**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

"**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

"**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question."**

"How else is the boy going to learn anything?" Narcissa pursed her lips in disapproval.

Meanwhile, Severus was busy thinking about what all of this meant. It certainly explained why Potter never came after class to ask for help understanding the material.

"**"Your new school uniform," she said.**

"**Harry looked in the bowl again. "Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

"**"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

"**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

"**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

"**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

"**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"**"Make Harry get it."**

"**"Get the mail, Harry."**

"**"Make Dudley get it.""**

The Slytherin students all laughed. Now that was brave. They weren't so sure they would have talked back if they had been in Potter's position.

Lucius and Severus shared a smirk. There was hope for Potter after all.

"**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

"**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and — a letter for Harry."**

Severus leaned forward. Now he would finally discover just why so many letters had to be delivered to Potter before Hagrid was sent to the boy. He couldn't ever get a straight answer out of Dumbledore.

"**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives — he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

"**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs **

**4 Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey."**

"If the letter was addressed to Harry's cupboard, why did Dumbledore do nothing about the situation?" Narcissa looked over at Severus.

Everyone knew that McGonagall and possibly even Dumbledore would have had to see the address before the envelopes were addressed.

"I believe he didn't want to admit to making such a large mistake. It would make him look fallible. And we all know Dumbledore refuses to allow that."

"**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.**

"**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

"**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope."**

"Oh no." Pansy covered her face, easily seeing how this was going to end up.

Severus, meanwhile, was glaring at the book. He could now guess just why so many letters were needed.

"**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

"**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…"**

"**"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

"**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

"**"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

"**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.**

"**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

"**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. Sheclutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

"**"Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!""**

"Honestly!" Severus' exclamation made everyone jump. "Why are they acting so surprised. Petunia knew the letter was coming. With so many signs of magic, there is no way for Potter to not receive one!"

"**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

"**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

"**"I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine."**

"**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing** **the letter back inside its envelope.**

"**Harry didn't move.**

"**"I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"**"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.**

"**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor."**

Narcissa and Lucius shared a furious glance. There was no way they would allow any wizarding child to go back to a place where they were tossed around like pieces of garbage. The only trouble would be getting around Dumbledore.

Well, they'd figure it out. They were Slytherins after all.

"**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

"**"Watching — spying — might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

"**"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want —"**

"**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

"**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… Yes, that's best… we won't do anything…"**

"**"But —"**

"**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?""**

Adrian, Hugh, and Marcus exchanged a look. It appears that they had found test subjects for their newest spells.

"**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"**"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

"**"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly.**

"**"I have burned it.""**

"We will have to make sure that all future letters sent out to muggleborns are fire resistant. This should never been able to happen."

"Not just muggleborns, Severus." Lucius looked up from the book. "See to it that all letters are that way."

"**"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

"**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling.**

"**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

"**"Er — yes, Harry — about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

"Wait a moment, dear." Narcissa looked over her husband's shoulder. "Does it really say that that spoiled child had two bedrooms? Not even Draco has two rooms!"

Lucius glanced at his wife warily before deciding the best course of action would be to continue on as if he hadn't heard the things his wife was now muttering under her breath.

"**"Why?" said Harry.**

"**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

"**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room."**

"Four rooms!" Narcissa was now standing up with her wand out.

The other Slytherins quietly watched as she cast a few curses at random objects in the room, hoping she wouldn't turn on them next.

"**He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

"**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't want him in there… I need that room… make him get out…"**

"**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

"**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

"**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it.**

"**They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —'"**

"**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

"**"Go to your cupboard — I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley — go — just go."**

"**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan."**

"Oh, no." Blaise started laughing. Everyone in the school knew to steer clear of Harry Potter if he had any kind of plan. They all seemed to go wrong in some way, usually spectacularly.

The students almost felt bad for Potter. Most of his ideas were quite smart, they just never turned out right.

"**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

"**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door —**

"**"AAAAARRRGH!"**

"**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something alive!**

"**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do.**

"**He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"**"I want —" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes."**

"Apparently the letters are also going to have to be indestructible."

Lucius nodded in agreement with Severus. A relative should never be able to get rid of a child's letter. Many families even kept their child's Hogwarts letter. He even had Draco's in his office at home.

"**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

"**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

"**"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

"**"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him."**

"Thank Merlin we're not like them. Can you imagine becoming so freaked out about some letters?" Draco shared an amused look with Blaise.

"**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom."**

"**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two-dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor."**

"Honestly, Severus. Why didn't Dumbledore already have a teacher sent out to that house? There was no reason for anyone to go to such measures to deliver a simple school letter."

Severus just shook his head. He didn't know what to tell Narcissa.

"**"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement."**

"**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy."**

"**"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today —""**

"**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one —"**

Lucius nodded in approval. No matter what seemed to stop him, Harry Potter just didn't seem to give up. In such an important matter, Lucius fully approved of such actions.

He really was going to have to teach Potter some things. The boy would have made an excellent Slytherin.

"**"Out! OUT!""**

"**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor."**

"**"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!""**

"**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway."**

"**Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag."**

"It's about time someone hit that brat." Hugh grabbed his bag and pulled out a quill and a piece of parchment. He needed time to think of just what spells to use on this particular Muggle family. They had to be just right.

"**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while."**

"**"Shake 'em off… shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this."**

"**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer."**

"**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering…"**

"**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table."**

"**"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk.""**

"**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth"**

"**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared."**

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room."**

"Severus," Lucius looked over at his friend. "Once we are done here, I believe you and I should pay a visit to the Aurors. Tampering with mail _is _illegal after all. And if we handle things right, we might catch Dumbledore in this as well. That would prevent him from interfering with us whenever we approach the boy."

Severus nodded in agreement. That would really help get Potter out of that situation.

"**"Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage."**

"**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon."**

"**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared."**

"**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled."**

"**"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television.""**

"**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday."**

"**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks."**

"**Still, you weren't eleven every day."**

"The poor thing."

All of the men watched as Narcissa and Pansy started planning out Potter's party. Honestly, they hadn't even talked to the boy yet.

"**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought."**

"**"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!""**

"**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there."**

"I believe, Severus, that you need to see into the possibility of getting copies of these memories. Neglect is not very well tolerated, even among the darkest families. It would be something else to take the Aurors."

"**"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!""**

"**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them."**

"**"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!""**

"**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house."**

"**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms."**

"**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas."**

"**He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up."**

"**"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully."**

"**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail."**

"**Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all."**

"**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket."**

"Dumbledore had to have known about this. Hagrid wouldn't have neglected to tell him. There's no way he can get out of this like he has other things." Severus was absolutely sure by this point that the headmaster had known about what had happened in that little house in Surrey.

He would see that the old man paid dearly for his actions.

"**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now."**

"**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did."**

"**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow."**

"**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?"**

"**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him"**

The Slytherin students all laughed in appreciation. They really hoped that this was what Potter was really like. He would fit in with them so well.

"— **three… two… one…"**

"**BOOM."**

"**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in."**

"That's it for this chapter." Lucius marked the page and laid it down on a nearby table while Severus called for a house elf.

Everyone grabbed a few snacks as they dicussed how to handle what they had learned.

Lucius and Severus were determined to see charges brought up on the Dursley family and Dumbledore for their many crimes against the Potter heir.

Narcissa and Pansy were already planning an extravagant party for the boy that had not had one since his parent's deaths.

And Draco, Blaise, Hugh, Adrian, and Marcus were discussing how to convince the boy to go in for a resorting. They weren't common but they did happen. And they were all sure that they would be better for the boy than the current housemates that he had.

Finally Adrian turned towards his professor. "Only one problem. How are we going to approach Potter?"

Before Severus could answer, the Room provided them with a solution. There was a sharp bang and Harry James Potter fell on the floor in the middle of the arranged couches.


	5. Interlude

**THE SLYTHERINS READ : INTERLUDE**

"What is going on here?" Harry backed away from the Slytherins as quickly as he could. "Why did you bring me here?"

Severus stood up. Out of all of the people in the room, he was the only one Harry may trust.

"We didn't bring you here. I believe that was Hogwarts' doing. The school also provided us with a set of books. Perhaps you were brought here to read with us."

Harry looked at his professor warily, not sure what to make of his professor's sudden change of attitude.

"What kind of books? Why would I be here to read them with you?"

Severus raised an eyebrow at the questions. More and more the young Gryffindor showed a more Slytherin side to himself. Maybe the book hadn't been wrong.

"Probably because the books are about you. We have only read a few chapters of the first book which is about your first year here."

Harry took a step towards the Slytherins. "And why are _you_ reading about me?"

Severus turned and looked at Lucius and Narcissa. The explanation was up to them.

"Mr. Potter," Narcissa walked over to the teenager. "As a mother, I do not want my child involved in this upcoming war. And I am not the only mother that feels this way. When we were discussing a safe way out of this war for the Slytherin students, the school provided us with those books."

Harry studied the woman in front of him. After a few minutes, he decided to believe her. He still had his wand and was still in the school…somewhere… so he decided to see how things went.

"Alright. I'll read with you for now. But only if Professor Snape agrees not to take points or give detention for anything he reads. These books would give him an unfair advantage in that."

Narcissa turned and looked at her friend. He nodded his agreement before conjuring another chair for his student. Narcissa moved back to her husband, smiling to herself. This would give her time to get Harry to see that not all Slytherins were bad.


	6. Chapter 4

Harry settled back as Marcus Flint took the book and began to read. He was more than a little worried about what could possibly be in a book about him. There were plenty of things that he wanted to keep to himself.

**CHAPTER** **FOUR**

**THE** **KEEPER** **OF** **THE** **KEYS**

**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands - now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

**"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you - I'm armed!"**

"What does he mean, he's armed?" Pansy looked over at Pot…Harry.

"He means he's got a gun. A gun is kind of like a wand but it always injures those it hits. Sometimes it even kills them."

"And he had it around children?"

Harry turned back to Marcus, not sure what to make of the tirade that Pansy was currently spouting.

**There was a pause. Then -**

**SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."**

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a**

**lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yet mom's eyes."**

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

**I demand that you leave at once, sit!" he said. "You are breaking and**

**entering!"**

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over**

**the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent**

**it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it**

**into a corner of the room.**

Pansy and Narcissa both smiled at that. It was possible that the half-giant had some good uses if he made Harry safe in that kind of environment.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

**"Anyway - Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a**

**very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on**

**it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly**

**squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a**

**large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in**

**green icing.**

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words**

**got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are**

**you?"**

**The giant chuckled.**

**"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and**

**Grounds at Hogwarts."**

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

**"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together.**

**"I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

Severus and Harry both winced. When everyone shot them confused looks, Severus explained.

"Hagrid doesn't do well with alcohol of any kind in any amount."

Harry nodded in agreement.

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and**

**he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he**

**was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire**

**there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt**

**the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and**

**began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a**

**copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several**

**chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from**

**before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was full of the sound and**

**smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was**

**working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt**

**sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said**

**sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

**"Yet great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don'**

**worry."**

Everyone felt some satisfaction at that. It was about time that someone told the female Dursley the truth about her son. If Dudley kept on the way he was, he'd be in an early grave.

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted**

**anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the**

**giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said,**

**"I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his**

**hand.**

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm**

**Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course.**

**"Er - no," said Harry.**

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

**"Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back**

**into the shadows. "It' s them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't**

**gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou'**

**Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yet parents**

**learned it all?"**

**"All what?" asked Harry.**

"Are you really telling me that you knew absolutely nothing about any of this?" Narcissa looked livid. They had known that Harry hadn't known about Hogwarts, but to find out that he didn't know about magic either was just too much.

Harry shot Narcissa an uneasy look but answered anyway. "My relatives thought that if I didn't know about it that I wouldn't become a wizard. They were hoping my magic would disappear."

Draco felt sick when he realized exactly how his first conversation with Harry sounded to a boy who knew nothing about the magical world.

**"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut.**

**The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy -**

**this boy! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"**

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after**

**all, and his marks weren't bad.**

**"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

**"What world?"**

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded**

**like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**

**"But yeh must know about yet mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."**

**"What? My - my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

**"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his**

**hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

**"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally.**

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

**"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sit! I forbid you to tell the**

**boy anything!"**

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

**"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

**"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

**"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry - yet a**

**wizard."**

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind**

**could be heard.**

**"- a what?" gasped Harry.**

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope,**

**addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock,**

**The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme**

**Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts**

**School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all**

**necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall,**

**Deputy Headmistress**

"That's something I always wondered about, Professor. How are muggleborns meant to understand any of that?"

"Muggleborns are told by a professor what is going on and their acceptance is given verbally. The headmaster probably felt that since you are not technically a muggleborn, you should get the standard letter."

Harry scrunched up his forehead as he thought that through. "That still doesn't make any sense. Even if I knew anything, I would still have no way to reply. I didn't have Hedwig then."

Severus shared a look with Lucius. Harry made a very good point. Just what had the old man been up to?

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't**

**decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does**

**it mean, they await my owl?"**

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl - a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl - a long quill, and a roll of parchment.**

**With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could**

**read upside down:**

**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**

**Given Harry his letter.**

**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**

**Weather's horrible. Hope you're Well.**

**Hagrid**

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its**

**beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he**

**came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

**"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still**

**ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

**"He's not going," he said.**

**Hagrid grunted.**

**"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

**"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like thern.**

**An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I**

**ever laid eyes on."**

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said**

**Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

**"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a - a wizard?"**

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

During this speech, Severus started to get redder and redder. Finally he couldn't seem to keep quiet any longer.

"I cannot believe the nerve of Petunia! She wanted into Hogwarts just as much as Lily did. And of course the Evans were proud of Lily. She was the only decent daughter they had!"

Harry could scarcely believe his luck. Everyone always talked about his father but he knew very little about his mother.

"Sir, did you know my mum?"

"I did. I'll talk to you later about that…after the book is finished."

Harry was satisfied with the knowledge that he would soon be able to ask questions about the mother he never knew and leaned back in his seat.

"**Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and**

**had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as - as - abnormal - and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

**"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

**"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no**

**idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of**

**yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right**

**person ter tell yeh - but someone 3 s gotta - yeh can't go off ter**

**Hogwarts not knowin'."**

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

**"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't**

**tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it..."**

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It**

**begins, I suppose, with - with a person called - but it's incredible**

**yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows -"**

**"Who? "**

**"Well - I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

**"Why not?"**

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is**

**difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you**

**could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..."**

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

**"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

**"Nah -can't spell it. All right - Voldemort. "**

"I don't believe I've ever heard Hagrid say the name before." Severus was slightly stunned that Harry had managed something that not even Dumbledore had managed.

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this - this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too - some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... Terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him - an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.**

**"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.**

"How did my dad become Head Boy? He wasn't a prefect."

Narcissa glanced at Severus before answering. She knew this was a sore spot for him. "Your father was Quidditch captain. It's very rare, but occasionally a Quidditch captain will be made Head Boy."

"**Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' - an' -"**

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

**"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad - knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer**

**people yeh couldn't find - anyway..."**

**"You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then - an' this is the real myst'ry of**

**the thing - he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of**

**it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't**

**do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a Powerful, evil curse touches yeh - took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age - the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts - an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before - and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

"How is it possible that Harry remembers that?" Blaise looked stunned at the confirmation that Harry could remember someone trying to kill him as a baby.

"Some things are just too horrible to forget." Lucius looked at the brunette sympathetically. It was well known that he heard even more when the Dementors were around.

"While we're on the subject, I've got a question." Adrian looked at the adults before looking at Harry. "Why did he go after Harry? Everyone talks about how it was Harry he was after, but that doesn't make sense. Why would he go after a toddler?"

Harry joined the Slytherins in looking at the adults. He noticed that Severus looked particularly uncomfortable.

Lucius and Narcissa exchanged a long look. "After this book is over, I believe Severus would like to speak with Harry about that privately."

Severus gave his friends thankful looks before motioning for Marcus to continue reading.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."**

**"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost**

**forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something**

**strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured - and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion - asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types - just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"**

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you - one more word... "**

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

**"But what happened to Vol-, sorry - I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see...he was gettin' more an' more powerful - why'd he go?**

**"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don~ reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.**

**"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers.**

**Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on - I dunno what it was, no one does - but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but**

**Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had**

**been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

Harry tried to ignore the Slytherin students as that was read. He really didn't want to know what they thought of the Golden Boy being used as a punching bag by his family.

If he had looked at them, he would have been stunned at the anger they were showing on his behalf.

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I**

**don't think I can be a wizard."**

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd**

**thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had**

**happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

"That was brilliant, Potter." Draco looked across the room at him.

Harry didn't say anything but blushed at the compliment. That had been one of his favorite moments with his family.

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard - you wait, you'll be**

**right famous at Hogwarts."**

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

**"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and -"**

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled**

**Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled-"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL To TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

Everyone in the room flinched. They all knew that Hagrid was fiercely loyal to Dumbledore and would never dream of insulting the wizard in front of him.

Eager to see what would happen, Marcus quickly began reading again.

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE IN-FRONT- OF- ME!"**

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley - there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a**

**sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other**

**room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door**

**behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work**

**anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he**

**said. "I'm - er - not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was**

**allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff**

**- one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job**

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

**"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled, ter**

**tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an'**

**everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

**"Why were you expelled?"**

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid**

**loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I**

**think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."**

As Marcus laid the book aside, the room provided the group with drinks and snacks. Harry grabbed a drink before following Severus over to a corner where the Potions Master put up as many wards as possible for privacy.

He took a deep breath before facing the young man who he was responsible for orphaning.


End file.
